Page 116 - John Kador - 201 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview-McGraw-Hill (2002)

QUESTIONS FOR HIRING MANAGERS

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If I were to be employed here, what one piece of wisdom would you want
me to incorporate into my work life?
This is a strong question that not only asks the hiring manager what he
or she considers most important but also assumes that you are already
on board.

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What are a couple of misconceptions people have about the company?
Every manager is frustrated by the way he or she thinks the world sees
the company. Here is your chance get two pieces of critical information:
how the hiring manager thinks the world perceives the company and
what he or she believes to be the truth.
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Work-life balance is an issue of retention as well as productivity. Can you
talk about your own view of how to navigate the tensions between getting
the work done and encouraging healthy lives outside the office?
On one level, you want to find out how workaholic your prospective
manager and the company are. On another, you want a clue about how
the company handles the important issue of work-life balance.
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How does the company support and promote personal and professional
growth?
This is another way to ask how the company culture promotes a healthy
work-life balance.

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What types of people seem to excel here?
This will engender more conversation about personality styles and atti-
tudes that mesh well with the culture and those that don’t. You bluff your
way through this question at your own risk. Why would you want to go
to work where you would be at war with the prevailing culture?
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Every company contends with office politics. It’s a fact of life because
politics is about people working together. Can you give me some exam-
ples of how politics plays out in this company?

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